The Nexus between Poverty, Inequality and Growth, a Case Study of Cameroon and Kenya
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Date
2023
Authors
Epo, Boniface Ngah
Baye, Francis Menjo
Mwabu, Germano
Etyang, Martin N.
Gachanja, Paul M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford Academic
Abstract
We conduct an in-depth analysis of the nexus between inequality of opportunity and inclusive growth in
Cameroon and Kenya employing cross-sectional data collected over two time periods in each country.
Empirical results show that changes in education, health and labour market endowments have large
effects on household economic well-being, as proxied by total expenditures per adult equivalent.
Employing the regression-based decomposition, we find that effort-based variables are associated
with greater Gini inequality compared with circumstance-based variables—more so for Cameroon
than Kenya. Among the effort-based variables, education in Cameroon and health in Kenya, are the
main correlates of income inequality. The factual and counterfactual distribution analyses undertaken
demonstrate that equalisation of human capital endowments is strongly inequality-reducing and further
promotes pro-poor growth. Meanwhile, elimination of circumstance disparities in Cameroon reduces
Gini inequality, enhances pro-poorness of the growth process, promotes shared-prosperity in urban
areas and reduces inequality between the tails of the distribution of well-being. In Kenya, elimination of
circumstance-based disparities is pro-poor improving, shared prosperity enhancing, but Gini inequality
augmenting. In contrast to the Cameroonian case, equalisation of circumstances increases inequality
between the tails of the distribution of well-being. The mechanisms behind these findings are probably
the country-specific redistributive policies.
Description
Article
Keywords
Kenya, Cameroon, factual-counterfactual distributions, efforts, circumstances, equality of opportunity, inclusive growth, inequality, poverty
Citation
Epo, B. N., Baye, F. M., Mwabu, G., Etyang, M. N., & Gachanja, P. M. (2023). The Nexus between Poverty, Inequality and Growth: A Case Study of Cameroon and Kenya. Journal of African Economies, 32(Supplement_2), ii113-ii146.